Save it for good is a term I heard all my childhood. I had to change out of school clothes the minute I came home, Sunday clothes were only wore on Sunday. Good shoes were only wore with the Sunday clothes. I had to take care of what I had because more was not an option. That scared me to not want to use anything nice I had. When my great aunt died I found many drawers full of items being saved for good, Goodwill for most of them.

My first quilt that I made was a Grandm's Flower Garden. I made it out of muslin and flanel shirts from my two grandfathers who are no longer with me, and from the shirts of my two brothers, dad, and my hubby. I call it all the men in my life. I have since added a square on the back made from my uncle's shirt when he passed away. I just can't bring myself to use this quilt. I wrap up in it when I want a hug from my uncle and grandpa's, but still, I just can't replace the shirts, so I can't use it.

You *do* use it - to wrap up in when you want a hug from your men! Just because you don't use it every day doesn't mean it's not used.

I agree. Whenever my grandmother received a nice gift she put it in her trunk with all her prized possessions. I never felt she didn't appreciate the gifts but that they were something special she wanted to be safe.

[quote=BellaBoo]Save it for good is a term I heard all my childhood. I had to change out of school clothes the minute I came home, Sunday clothes were only wore on Sunday. Good shoes were only wore with the Sunday clothes. I had to take care of what I had because more was not an option.
That scared me to not want to use anything nice I had.

I read this message , and thought I could have written those exact words. I still have this impulse to "save it for good". I realized how badly it affected me this year. I typically pruchase some summer clothing at the end of the season ( good sales). This year I opened my container of summer clothes and found several items purchased in years past that I had been "saving for good". All still had the price tags on them because that is how I signal to myself ..."is this a good enough occasion to wear something new?". And it was abvious that the answer had always been ... no not yet.
I am always trying now to be concious of this mind set, and bring about some change and tell myself "Now is good enough! ".

Cute quilt, and I LOVE the frogs idea!!! Very creative.

Love the story and wise words. Life is too short to not use the good linen, good china, grandmas gravy bowl, mom's vase, etc. Someday may never come.

I don't make heirloom quilts....I want people to drag them around until they fall apart....and I try to tell them that. I also try to disengage myself from the quilt once it has been given away....because then it's really not mine anymore. This particular trait came into call when I walked into my sister's house and saw the dog sleeping on the handquilted shamrock lap quilt I made for my sister. It's hard, but not impossible to disengage.

I completely agree! As a new Mom, I have my daughters first paintings and handprints and everything all over my little house. They are absolutely precious and will be put away for years to come. This relates because I bet your mom looks at the quilts and knows her daughters hand made it with love and she just wants to keep it precious. :)

My mom was of the same mindset. When we moved back to my hometown in the late 70's early 80's (moved back three times! don't remember which move it was) my parents had moved to another house closer to town and I moved into the house I grew up in. They had not moved but about half their stuff...the part they used all the time. So I go looking in the buffet in the dining room and there are all the table linens, crystal, sterling silver, bath towels, etc that they got as wedding gifts in 1938! The only time I remember her using any of it was when she hosted a luncheon for my cousin's bridal attendants (I was a junior bridesmaid) when I was 7 years old. I started using the towels...

When I got married I intentionally chose things to register for that I knew I would use regularly. Maybe not everything all the time, but not things that I knew would never fit into my informal lifestyle. Got plenty of those things from family friends anyway...now when would I possibly use a sterling silver casserole cover??? I challenged myself to figure out ways to actually use it and discovered it worked quite nicely as an ice bucket when we had a party for our SS class (4-6 couples).

Quilts? I make sure whoever I give one to knows it is intended to be used. In fact I am careful to suggest that they use it for picnics or to snuggle in the car on trips. So it's made by hand, it can be repaired by hand too if it needs it!